I suppose you are right - which makes me wonder why I went to AM! Perhaps it was because I was a bit scared of my pro and that I could not give him as much as he expected. Though I think mostly its because dancing AM was always my goal...

If it was your goal to begin with, then you're doing what you wanted. For someone like me, who likes to excel regardless, pro-am competition dancing probably works best. I'm only limited by my own limitations, if this makes sense.

I'm not sure that makes sense. If its easier to dance pro-am (which in my experience it was not) then its easier for everyone - which makes it equally hard! Likewise for AM. If its harder to coordinate two AMs, its equally harder for all the competitors (but for a few exceptions), so you are back where you started. The only sitation where it would make a difference would be if AMs competed against pro-ams. Then, yes, the latter would definitely have the advantage.

My am-am partnership happened early in my dance career and it was with my life partner. I have to say that it was ultimately much more frustrating than any of the two pro-am partnerships I've been in so far, which makes it harder (despite the fact that we were working on much more basic things than I do now and nothing my teacher demands of me can come even close to inflicting same levels of frustration). Maybe if it was not with my life partner, we wouldn't take things as personally, but I certainly do not want to be in a partnership where I need to massage the guy's ego ever again.

My am-am partnership happened early in my dance career and it was with my life partner. I have to say that it was ultimately much more frustrating than any of the two pro-am partnerships I've been in so far, which makes it harder (despite the fact that we were working on much more basic things than I do now and nothing my teacher demands of me can come even close to inflicting same levels of frustration). Maybe if it was not with my life partner, we wouldn't take things as personally, but I certainly do not want to be in a partnership where I need to massage the guy's ego ever again.

Interesting - that you don't have to massage your pro's ego at all? There are the obvious differences that the relationship is stacked one way by one being pro and the other am and the other by one paying and one receiving. However, that said I think this an part of all dance partnerships (indeed all relationships) - after a while the pro-am one has similarities to the AM-AM one, least in my experience.

Perhaps you could try a non-personal Am partnership? Its much easier to have your say and make your case if you can go home afterwards but each one has its unique demands for tollerance and forgiveness - perhaps these factors are even more important than the dancing itself in the long run...

My am-am partnership happened early in my dance career and it was with my life partner. I have to say that it was ultimately much more frustrating than any of the two pro-am partnerships I've been in so far, which makes it harder (despite the fact that we were working on much more basic things than I do now and nothing my teacher demands of me can come even close to inflicting same levels of frustration). Maybe if it was not with my life partner, we wouldn't take things as personally, but I certainly do not want to be in a partnership where I need to massage the guy's ego ever again.

Interesting - that you don't have to massage your pro's ego at all? There are the obvious differences that the relationship is stacked one way by one being pro and the other am and the other by one paying and one receiving. However, that said I think this an part of all dance partnerships (indeed all relationships) - after a while the pro-am one has similarities to the AM-AM one, least in my experience.

Perhaps you could try a non-personal Am partnership? Its much easier to have your say and make your case if you can go home afterwards but each one has its unique demands for tollerance and forgiveness - perhaps these factors are even more important than the dancing itself in the long run...

I don't feel that I have to massage my pro's ego. I don't have to tell him that he's on the right track or doing a good job when something is not working. I don't expect him to tell me I am doing a good job when I'm not either. We can be candid with each other, something we both value. Obviously, we've known each other for several years by now, we had somewhat rocky testing period in the beginning, but we work very well together now.

As far as taking a am partnership with someone not married to me, I still have to take a guy who is below my level and wait for him to improve. We just don't have advanced am guys around here. Which means that I won't derive much benefit from the partnership for a long while. We do have an am guy doing pro-am bronze here, I thought about asking him to practice together (but I think this was the instinct which compels us to make a sandwich out of the last 2 slices in the pack), but then decided against him because of the skill gap.

The only sitation where it would make a difference would be if AMs competed against pro-ams. Then, yes, the latter would definitely have the advantage.

Hey ee, didn't we do that recently?

Logged

Everyone tries to rush up through the syllabus levles and think once they are at the top they have arrived. What they don't realize is that by doing this it is like skimming through a book, you may get the gist but you will never understand the story.

Hmmmm, as a pro-am who has just just moved into am-am I'm finding interestings pros and cons on both sides. I brought my partner to the MLC and one interesting difference was that I was the experienced one and had to be the 'strong' one. She did very well for a first comp but I found myself doing mistakes from my past, things I had thought I was finished with. Mostly because I was caring so much for her, but now the first comp is done and I'm looking forward to the future ones.

One thing that is hard is the skill flip. Before finding my present partner I tried out a few ladies and the predominant problem was the expectation of strong and pro-like leading from them, mostly since they were from pro-am backgrounds themselves. I'm not saying I'm amazingly good but I can't be as bad as they made me out to be! My present partner says she's glad I danced pro-am because I know what it feels like to dance with someone at a high level so I know what I want.

The main thing I like about am is that potentially I'm finally on a level playing field. Always in pro-am I had my leading skills compared to professionals and found lacking. This comp I knew that where I placed was because of mistakes I made not because my best was not quite up to professional levels.

Interesting persepective - its somewhat different for the woman of course. I had never heard of a pro-am having to be compared to pros - but I suppose thats in the territory for the man. The female pro-am is (I believe) generally presumed to be way less able than a pro so the comparision is not made (but maybe thats just my experience).

The terrific part of AM is that you develop a real relationship and you work on a common goal - and you get to practise as much as you like at virtually no cost. But its the partnership part that makes it best for me - a comrade as it were: you share your victories, losses, injuries and much of your private lives. That all melds together to make you a strong unit. In some ways I've found a dance partnership to be stronger than a life one - you don't usually have to work that closely with your spuse - unless, I suppose, you have a large family or share a family business....

Hello BT. How did it go at the comp? I was on the saturday night so didn't get to see you dance.

Logged

Everyone tries to rush up through the syllabus levles and think once they are at the top they have arrived. What they don't realize is that by doing this it is like skimming through a book, you may get the gist but you will never understand the story.

Interesting persepective - its somewhat different for the woman of course. I had never heard of a pro-am having to be compared to pros - but I suppose thats in the territory for the man. The female pro-am is (I believe) generally presumed to be way less able than a pro so the comparision is not made (but maybe thats just my experience).

For pro-am scholarship, the couple is judged as a team. It used to be just for the open ones, but now I think it's true for all scholarship events. So am guy ends up compared to pro guys, in a way. Or rather, because the couple is judged as a whole, it is easier for a pro guy to make the couple look better, because he leads better.